I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for creating, editing, processing and printing photographs. More specifically, the present invention relates to equipment which allows a photographer to take pictures of a large number of subjects, link the pictures to data used in processing the pictures, edit the pictures and processing data, deliver the pictures and data to a lab which processes the photographs in a manner consistent with the data.
The system of the present invention is ideally suited for use by commercial photography businesses. The system of the present invention enables such businesses to efficiently photograph large numbers of subjects and process the photographs to provide quality prints of a desired size, composition and number to a customer.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
The advent of modern automated processing systems for commercial photographers occurred in 1981. In that year, Talmadge Hopson completed his invention of a camera system that allowed a photographer to marry photographs to data related to the photographs. That camera system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,745 granted Dec. 27, 1983. That camera system, referred to in the trade as the Micro Z, has been used by Lifetouch National School Studios to efficiently produce and process school photographs since that time.
A significant advance in the art provided by the Micro Z was the ability to print a bar code on film adjacent to a photograph. This is shown in FIG. 13 of the Hopson patent. Data is supplied to the camera either using a data card reader which reads customer order cards or a 16-key data entry keyboard shown in FIG. 1. The camera writes the data in bar code format on the film adjacent the photograph as the film advances. The data in the bar code can include information such as an operator (photographer) I.D., a class code signifying the classroom of students the subject is associated with, the date the picture was taken, the roll and frame number of the film, and a package print selection which is used to tell the processing lab the size and number of prints to be created. The camera's controller is designed so that pictures cannot be taken unless all of the required data has been entered. This ensures that the processing plant will have this data for processing purposes. The Micro Z has been successfully used by Lifetouch National School Studios for 20 years to efficiently produce school photographs.
One disadvantage of recording data on film is that the data cannot be corrected even if it contains errors. The film serves as a “one-time programmable” memory. Another disadvantage is that since the data is written to the film as the film is advanced, the data must be entered into the camera before the film is advanced. Still other disadvantages exist, because the shutter is locked closed until the data is entered to ensure the data is properly matched to the photograph. Photographers simply cannot take a new picture until the data for the new picture is entered. Particularly when photographing young children, whose moods and expressions change rapidly, there is a real need to be able to take pictures first and enter data later.
The Micro Z camera disclosed in the Hopson patent was developed in an era when microprocessor technology was in its infancy and memory was very costly. With improved technology in these two areas, film cameras can be improved to overcome many of the disadvantages discussed above and to expand the amount of data available for use in processing the film. With the advent of high quality digital cameras, even further advantages are available.